AustLit

'Everybody dreams. No one is entirely sure what dreams might mean, but still there is a mountain of commentary on the topic – as there always has been. Edward Slosson opens his introduction to Henri Bergson’s Dreams (1914, p. 6) by announcing: “Before the dawn of history mankind [sic] was engaged in the study of dreaming”. Medical science has its own footprint in this corpus, especially evident in the writing of the ancient Greeks who had a great deal to say about the functions of dreams in physical health and wellbeing. Religion too turns its attention to dreams, particularly in conceiving of dreams as texts for interpretation, as channels of divination. The Old Testament prophet Daniel, for example, made a living from his skill in dream analysis. The Neoplatonist Hypatia seems to have approved the idea, promulgated by her pupil Synesius, that dreams convey the will of god; and Homer seems confident that dreams are actually messages from the gods [1]. Even Plato, that philosopher of reason and self-control and scepticism, writes that Socrates seems to have taken dreams seriously. Along with other ancient scholars, Plato (2013, 31c, p. 44) identifies Socrates’ trust in dreams, and aligns this with the master’s daimonion (divine sign) – the something that is beyond conscious thought.' (Publication abstract)